Eavesdrop On Experts

The hepatitis B virus causes liver inflammation that, despite treatment, still leaves people at greater risk of developing liver disease and cancer. While it can be effectively vaccinated against, there is no cure. Researchers Professor Peter Revill and Dr Thomas Tu are on front line of global efforts to find a cure; helped by Dr Tu developing a new method to better detect the virus’ ‘master blueprint’. For Dr Tu, who was diagnosed with the disease as a teenager, finding a cure for Hep B is personal. “I wasn’t given much information, just that you will have this for the rest of your life, and that was it. You may get liver disease down the track,” recalls Dr Tu. “After that I was a bit despondent, as you can imagine, but then “I thought what is this”? And so I went online and started really looking up what hepatitis B was and I accrued all of this knowledge and realised I could do something.” In fact, Dr Tu’s research in part led him to meet his now-wife. Professor Revill says Dr Tu’s new method could b